Tempest main out phasing issues?

[alexdecker]

Not long ago, I made a topic where I had problems with some sound cancelling each other out. At that time, it turned out to be sound design (I think) and I solved it. But recently I read something about the Tempest main outs having some phase cancellation issues. This would make a lot of sense to me, based on how my machine sound often.

Do any of you guys had any experiences with phase cancellation or the likes? Or is it just me, seeing and hearing ghosts?

- Alex

[idm]

Ghosts.

I had it one time, though it was my own fault. I had direct monitoring turned on on my audio interface, low buffer setting and record monitoring turned on in my DAW as well.

Also, when you use 2 exact settings and modulation for the oscillators 1&2 or 3&4, phase cancelation can occur. Especially with wave reset turned on.

My guess is it is a sound design error, not the Tempest. But maybe record a couple of patches with different oscillator settings to be certain? If it is indeed an issue, contact support I'd say.

[BTS.WRKNG]

I hate to reply with a less-than-definitive answer or what could be wrong information, but as I seem to recall this can be an issue if you use balanced cables in Tempest's unbalanced outs.

I remember reading something on the old forum when Tempest first came out, and while previously I'd never given a second thought to using balanced cables with unbalanced outs, ever since then I've made a point of only using TS cables with my Tempest, like it's somehow not as forgiving with a TS/TRS mismatch as other gear seems to be.

Anyone else remember this? And please correct me if I'm wrong!

[John the Savage]

I hate to reply with a less-than-definitive answer or what could be wrong information, but as I seem to recall this can be an issue if you use balanced cables in Tempest's unbalanced outs.

I remember reading something on the old forum when Tempest first came out, and while previously I'd never given a second thought to using balanced cables with unbalanced outs, ever since then I've made a point of only using TS cables with my Tempest, like it's somehow not as forgiving with a TS/TRS mismatch as other gear seems to be.

Anyone else remember this? And please correct me if I'm wrong!

Considering that I was the guy who answered a lot of these questions on the old forum, I'll weigh-in here once again and say that most of the confusion regarding the use of balanced vs. unbalanced cables, over the years, has had to do with the individual voice-outs being stereo, and people not understanding the difference between stereo vs. balanced cables and connections, and how that differs from the main-outs being mono, unbalanced, etc.  And I'm not going to explain it again (smirk).

Ahem!

Sufficed to say, I suspect that most of these so-called "phase" issues that people are reporting are entirely user error, and have nothing to do with the hardware itself.  So if you are experiencing phase-cancellation or comb-filtering anomalies, chances are it's you, not your Tempest (wink).  Check your monitoring, check your cables, check your sound design, and be sure you fully understand your signal path...

Cheers!